Guardian 25,964 / Rufus

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Another typical Rufus offering, with a fair sprinkling of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions, all elegantly gift-wrapped with the usual silky surfaces. Thank you, Rufus, for a pleasant start to a sunny morning.

Across

1 Counter-productive defeat
TROUNCE
Anagram [productive] of COUNTER

5 They may be pack animals — not mink!
ALPACAS
An anagram [may be] of PAC[k] A [nim]ALS minus ‘mink’: according to this,   alpacas, being considerably smaller than llamas, may be used for only light loads: I thought this was a lovely clue!

10 Bond, an agent with sticking power
GLUE
Cryptic definition

11 Game boss producing good position for expansion
BRIDGEHEAD
A charade of BRIDGE [game] + HEAD [boss]

12 Islam’s enigmatic religious book
MISSAL
Anagram [enigmatic] of ISLAMS – very nice surface

13 Indian state capital
CHEYENNE
Double definition: Cheyenne is the state capital of Wyoming

14 A setback — very sad to get upset about it
ADVERSITY
Anagram [upset]  of VERY SAD around IT – another great surface

16 Musical box for a sailor?
DITTY
Double definition, a ditty being a simple song and a ditty box is a sailor’s box for personal belongings. I was quite excited to find this picture of one,
because it’s very like the box I found when clearing out my grandmother’s house and have used ever since to keep my children’s reports, certificates, etc, without knowing what it was.

17 Facilitated a seed’s germination
EASED
Anagram [germination] of A SEED

19 Pen and fold into an envelope
ENCLOSURE
I’m not sure how to describe this: both pen and fold are animal enclosures and an enclosure is put into an envelope

23 Stretches toward us, in a way
DRAWS OUT
Anagram [in a way] of TOWARD US

24 An extra modest sort of dance?
NO BALL
Double definition, a no-ball being an extra in cricket and, since a ball is a grand kind of dance, a modest one would be ‘no ball’

26 A brave line to adopt
INDIAN FILE
Cryptic definition

27 For centuries they ignored America
MAPS
A [not very] cryptic definition

28 Stupidity of trying to alter destiny?
DENSITY
Anagram [to alter] of DESTINY

29 Had ambitions for a high place in the church in the Christian era
ASPIRED
SPIRE [a high place in the church] in AD [Anno Domini – the Christian era] – another very nice surface

Down

2 Got together and improved
RALLIED
Double definition

3 Drug addicts employ various ruses
USERS
Anagram [various] of RUSES

4 Roughly repairs shoes or roads
COBBLES
Double definition

6 What water pipes should be kept behind?
LAGGED
Clever double definition

7 His cattle wandered on the track, perhaps
ATHLETICS
Anagram of HIS CATTLE

8 Not a word for a win on the way
AGAINST
Charade of A GAIN [a win] on ST [street – the way]

9 State it is lent, hence restitution is required
LIECHTENSTEIN
Anagram [restitution] of IT IS LENT HENCE

15 Highly-sought after rock plant
EDELWEISS
Cryptic definition, edelweiss being found in the Alps

18 Fix the score to suit the players
ARRANGE
Cryptic definition, referring to musical scores and players

20 Steps taken by riders meeting in a point-to-point encounter
LANCERS
Double / cryptic definition: the lancers is a set of quadrilles, first popular in England about 1820

21 A cause of repeated ill-feeling
RELAPSE
Cryptic definition [following the rally in 2dn!]

22 One may play it — and one may get licked
CORNET
Double definition

25 Animated youngster in book given limited scope
BAMBI
B [book] + AMBI[t] [limited scope]

26 comments on “Guardian 25,964 / Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and Eileen
    I didn’t really enjoy this very much. MAPS was so “non-cryptic” that I didn’t get it; neither had I heard of DITTY box, and I thought GLUE and DENSITY were rather weak. One or two other minor quibbles as well (LAGGED = KEPT BEHIND for instance? “Fell behind” is better, but of course this ruins the surface.)
    On the other hand, ATHLETICS was a lovely anagram

  2. I enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were 7d, 9d, 14a, 29a, 24a & 18d.

    I learnt a new definition of ‘lag’ today as well as a new word, BRIDGEHEAD.

    I was unable to parse 16a.

    Thanks for the blog, Eileen.

  3. Thanks Eileen. Like Muffin, I was defeated by DITTY, which I had considered but rejected, not knowing of a ditty-box. I speculated on KITTY instead.

    LANCERS was a bit of a stab in the dark as well. Rather contrived, the dd/cd I thought.

  4. Thanks Eileen and Rufus

    A mixed bag. Like Trailman I tried ‘kitty’ for 16a. I did not know ditty box and thought of ditty as a poem rather than a song.

    I did not much like ‘enclosure’ but ticked 5a, 24a, 26a and 20d.

    26a reminded me of ‘He knew Indians walked in single file because he’d seen one doing it once’.

  5. tupu@4
    I was fine with ENCLOSURE as a DD: 1/ pen; 2/ (an enclosure is) folded into an envelope. Of course, these days we more often attach files to an email message rather than fold a “piece of paper = an enclosure” into an envelope. But it still made sense to me, in contrast to the second definition of DITTY, which I had never heard of!

  6. Mostly good, I finished the LH first but then got stuck on some of the RH.

    Thanks Eileen; although ditty=song, I don’t understand how this equates to [a] musical – perhaps I am missing something here. I didn’t like the clue for MAPS, which like muffin @1 I thought was too cryptic until the crossers revealed it. I tried to squeeze LAGGing into 6d but ran out of lights 🙁

    I particularly liked ALPACAS and NO BALL.

  7. Thanks for the blog, Eileen.

    I found this a little harder-going than usual and resorted to the check button to confirm a few guesses: LANCERS, DITTY and GLUE (which I thought was not cryptic enough…)

    ATHLETICS was Rufus at his best…great surface and anagram fodder. I also enjoyed ALPACAS and ADVERSITY.

    Thanks, Rufus!

  8. Hi robi @6

    Re 16ac: I wasn’t really happy calling it a double definition, for the reason that you point out, but it’s definitely a play on the two meanings of ‘ditty’ and Rufus’ question mark made it OK for me.

  9. HI michelle

    I see the idea clearly enough but I worry about the surface, especially double duty for ‘fold’ if that is intended – and in any case enclosures need not always be folded. If double duty is not intended, then ‘into an envelope’ seems difficult to interpret.

  10. The LHS fell into place quickly but the RHS took me a lot longer.

    DITTY was my last in after I dragged ditty-box from some deep recess of my memory. I agree with muffin@1 that ‘kept behind’ for LAGGED is a poor definition. On the other hand I thought the clues for ALPACAS and ATHLETICS were good.

  11. Thanks, Eileen.

    I found this harder than usual (and I’m not one of those who finds Rufus a push-over at the best of times).

    DITTY escaped me entirely, and LANCERS took a long time, as I didn’t know the ‘steps’ sense.

    Favourite clue is the wonderful 5a.

  12. Yes, but ‘mink’ hasn’t really much to do w ith alpacas. It is an okay clue because one anagranm can be ALPACASMINK, but it just sreenms contrived to me.

    Usyaul Rufus fayre.

  13. Thanks Eileen again–several beat me here.

    I spent a decade in my youth working on a great big schooner where I slept on a pipe bunk in the forecastle, between the cold smell of mud from the chain locker and that of tarred marline from the ditty bag wedged at the apex of the cabin sole. I didn’t get “ditty,” and I still don’t. Is that really a DD?

    A ditty box or bag in my experience doesn’t really hold personal belongings so much as stuff necessary to keep the rigging in trim, canvas, cordage, needles, fids and so on. Takes me back though: “Worm and parcel with the lay, turn and serve the other way.”

  14. I am another one who found the right side far more difficult than the left. Re. 25 down, I was not aware that b is crossword-speak for book.

  15. Hi jford

    The definition of ‘ditty box’ that I gave came from Chambers. Here’s another link, giving more information: http://www.frayedknotarts.com/files/dittybagbox.html
    [I wouldn’t expect Rufus to be wrong about anything nautical. 😉 ]
    Re ‘Is that really a DD?’, please see my comment 8

    Hi John

    I think b = book is fairly common in crosswords – and it’s in Chambers.

    And hi muffin @1 and Andy B @10 – I see nothing wrong with LAGGED: ‘She kept behind all the way there’ sounds OK to me.

  16. Thanks Eileen–Rufus didn’t get it wrong, but I think Chambers may be wrong in putting personal items first. Then again my nautical experience is limited for the most part to American vessels. We’ll have to ask Rufus!

  17. Hi jford

    Yes, I realised as soon as I’d posted that it was not Rufus’ definition you were querying – sorry!

  18. Thank you Eileen, for the link to the ditty box picture. I have one exactly like it which my father used for snooker chalk and stuff and I use for screws and nails.
    I am so pleased to know what it really is. Wonderful thing doing crosswords.

  19. Rowland @12; The primary purpose of the alpaca is for the production of high-quality fibre used in all the ways that wool is. Mink, more controversially, also provides much-prized clothing material.

  20. I was, unusually for a Rufus, defeated by this on the SE corner.

    There were a few never-likely-to-have-heard-ofs, rather than just NHOs.

    I liked “maps”, though.

  22. At a loose end so I thought I’d “Risk a Rufus”

    Aaaaargh!

    Where do you get the drugs that make you enjoy this? Several clues have already been only mildly criticised (amazingly) so I wont reiterate.

    However how does “Not a word for” define against? Perhaps “Not a word for for” would work but that would spoil the surface. (Marginally 😉 )

    Grimalkin @ 21
    It’s amazing how two people can look at the same thing and see the opposite!

    Thanks to Eileen for the blog.

  23. I’m with those above who found this a struggle – some truly awful clues here. Let’s hope there’s better to come for the rest of the week.

  25. Thanks Rufus and Eileen

    Didn’t have access yesterday, so only did this one today. Can understand some of the criticism above but found it a reasonable challenge that took a little longer than normal – held up a little with LAGGED (which I hadn’t seen in that context) and the DITTY box that I had to track down.

    Thought that NO BALL was quite good when I ‘got it’.

  26. We (my erstwhile colleagues and I, who gather around during our morning break to work through a cryptic crossword as a team in …oooh, about 2 weeks) really didn’t like this one. Ditty is not and never will be a musical, and relapses and maps were just plain rubbish clues… Liked enclosure, Cheyenne and edelweiss. The rest… meh.

    Must try harder, Rufus, must try harder…

    Oh – and this one took us nearly the month to get and then we had to cheat on Ditty and Relapse…

    Barrow

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